Two are better than one.  Not as good as one - better than one.  At least, that’s what the Bible says. In a world of loners and lonely, this statement rings especially true.  People are increasingly isolated. We are less interdependent than in days gone by, so it’s easy to think we are not dependent on others at all.  While there is much good in the emphasis on individuality, such can cause us to disparage the collective.

Much work can be done alone, and individual productivity is at an all-time high.  Our partners are mechanical or electronic, so we don’t need warm bodies to help us do much at all.  We are less interactive- at least with actual people. When you factor in the reality that it is sometimes easier to work alone, the road to nowhere becomes more plain.  Television can talk to us, and the radio can sing for us. The internet is useful, but no substitute for real living.

America is not a melting pot- it is a bowl of marbles.  We are fiercely protective of our individual identities and unwilling to blend in.  In concern over losing ourselves, we have failed to understand that, in cooperation with others, we might actually find ourselves.  At least, we’d find much about ourselves that we could not understand alone. We see ourselves in others being reflected in their faces.  Sometimes, we grow thereby.

Two are better than one because they can accomplish more together than either working alone.  Two are better than one because if one falls the other can help him up. If the two convince a third to join their cause, it will be difficult to break their alliance.  Camaraderie is important. I even feel better if someone shares my pain. When Jesus left this earth, He told His disciples to love each other, forgive each other and function as a group.

The church is characterized in Scripture as a flock, a building and a body.  God sees us all individually, but part of what He looks for in our lives is how we interact with others.  Believers are designed to be parts of a spiritual organization, not lone wolves walking their own paths to eternity.  Thinking we don’t need others is impractical, and, biblically, it is patently untrue. Freestanding Christians are fashionable but false.

The brotherhood of believers is a wonderful thing.  There is power and protection in the group. In a healthy church, there is also encouragement and appreciation of individual expression.  The group will have the same faults as the parts that define it, but will also share their strengths. The team with a blemish on its record still cheers.

If God’s people join hands, it won’t be easy to stop the train.

Sterl